| Description |
1 online resource (xviii, 289 pages) : illustrations |
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text txt rdacontent |
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computer c rdamedia |
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online resource cr rdacarrier |
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data file rda |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction : serving the people body and soul -- African American responses to medical discrimination before 1966 -- Origins of Black Panther Party health activism -- The people's free medical clinics -- Spin doctors : the politics of sickle cell anemia -- As American as cherry pie : contesting the biologization of violence -- Conclusion : race and health in the post-civil rights era. |
| Summary |
"Between its founding in 1966 and its formal end in 1980, the Black Panther Party blazed a distinctive trail in American political culture. The Black Panthers are most often remembered for their revolutionary rhetoric and militant action. Here Alondra Nelson deftly recovers an indispensable but lesser-known aspect of the organization's broader struggle for social justice: health care. The Black Panther Party's health activism -- its network of free health clinics, its campaign to raise awareness about genetic disease, and its challenges to medical discrimination-was an expression of its founding political philosophy and also a recognition that poor blacks were both underserved by mainstream medicine and overexposed to its harms. Drawing on extensive historical research as well as interviews with former members of the Black Panther Party, Nelson argues that the Party's focus on health care was both practical and ideological. Building on a long tradition of medical self-sufficiency among African Americans, the Panthers' People's Free Medical Clinics administered basic preventive care, tested for lead poisoning and hypertension, and helped with housing, employment, and social services. In 1971, the party launched a campaign to address sickle-cell anemia. In addition to establishing screening programs and educational outreach efforts, it exposed the racial biases of the medical system that had largely ignored sickle-cell anemia, a disease that predominantly affected people of African descent. The Black Panther Party's understanding of health as a basic human right and its engagement with the social implications of genetics anticipated current debates about the politics of health and race. That legacy-and that struggle-continues today in the commitment of health activists and the fight for universal health care"--Provided by publisher. |
| Note |
Print version record. |
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English. |
| Subject |
Black Panther Party.
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Black Panther Party
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Minorities -- Medical care -- United States.
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Discrimination in medical care -- United States.
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Race discrimination -- United States.
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Health Status.
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African Americans -- history.
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Healthcare Disparities -- history.
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History, 20th Century.
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Patient Advocacy -- history.
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Prejudice.
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Race Relations -- history.
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United States.
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| Related To |
Print version: Nelson, Alondra. Body and soul. Minneapolis ; London : University of Minnesota Press, [2011], ©2011 9780816676484 (DLC) 2011040833 (OCoLC)719427969 |
| Standard No. |
838809624 880745127 961597932 962601248 1055361795 1058460492 1065801637 1081215842 1153012776 1162206124 1176306260 1228576273 1280871081 |
| ISBN |
9780816678754 (electronic bk.) |
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0816678758 (electronic bk.) |
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9781299945463 |
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1299945465 |
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9781452948164 |
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145294816X |
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9780816676484 (hc ; alk. paper) |
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0816676488 (hc ; alk. paper) |
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9780816676491 (pb ; alk. paper) |
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0816676496 (pb ; alk. paper) |
| OCLC # |
jseba768082780 |
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